Friday Favourites – Adventures in Toronto, American Thanksgiving and Family Photos

Happy (Black) Friday! Are you planning to go out and brave the stores today? I ended up at the mall last night and didn’t know the sales had already started. It was thankfully relatively quiet, so I was able to knock a few more things off my list. There are some great holiday markets and local vendors putting on sales this weekend, so I’m planning to finish up the last few things on my list with local finds, and maybe catch a few more deals online on Monday. It would be nice to finish all my shopping early next week and starting wrapping. I don’t like shopping malls at the best of times, so I’m glad I’ll be avoiding them in the busy month of December!

We had a fun week with some festive activities, including the trip to Toronto I mentioned last Friday and a Thanksgiving dinner with Garrett’s family. Every weekend we’ve got things coming up with friends and family – and it reminds me of how much I love this season of seeing all those near and dear to you.

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Our day trip to the city started off with a visit to one of the most iconic places in Toronto – the St. Lawrence Market. It had probably been 15 years since either of us had been there. I can’t believe I never went in the four years I lived in Toronto.

The main building houses 120 vendors, with everything you can imagine from many different cultures.

There was so much great fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, flowers baked goods and food shops. I also picked up a few holiday gifts from some of the non-food shops.

The tradition of the Saturday Farmers’ Market started in 1803 and continues to this day, with vendors coming from all over Southern Ontario with their seasonal produce. We even spotted some apple farmers from my family’s hometown of Thornbury!

Everywhere we went there was some new delicacy we’d never heard of. Garrett even spotted a few of the Polish treats his grandmother used to make him when he was growing up. I’d love to learn how to make them for him some day.

 If you’re looking for an odd ingredient or some new to try – this is the place to go. I can’t use any bulk ingredients because of my peanut and nut allergy, but it was fun to check out all the interesting things all the same.

There were bins of holiday candies everywhere. Eggnog Almonds? Robbin Candy? If you were looking to decorate a gingerbread house, this would be the place to stock up on decorations.

By the time we left the market, we were so hungry, which made it the perfect chance to stop into a new allergy friendly shop that I kept hearing about. Feast is an allergy-friendly gourmet food shop on Queen Street, just south of Trinity Bellwoods Park (my old neighbourhood!).

 For lunch we shared some pocket pies (jerk chicken and beefeater) and this super yummy quinoa power salad. (we also took a vegan curry black bean pocket pie home for lunch the next day – it was my favorite!)

The display case was full these super yummy soft coconut milk caramels that we picked up for a little snack at the play. The tropical caramel was the best (loaded with pineapple, coconut milk ans a sprinkle of smoked sea salt).

 …and gourmet doughnuts for dessert. This coconut caramel one was Garrett’s favourite, but I was all over the chocolate one with a salted chocolate glaze and cocoa nibs.

A few couple shops down was The Paper Place. I used to love stopping in here on my way home from work. There are also so many new and interesting finds each time I visit.

I could have spent hours in this store, just pouring over all the high quality paper goods, trim, books, cards, calendars. It took restraint not to walk out of there with one of everything. I did splurge ($10, ha!) on a cute paper advent calendar that you’ll see on Monday’s Holiday Home Tour.

I also picked up a few sheets of vintage inspired holiday gift wrap. It was so hard to narrow it down because they were all so lovely!

While we were in the neighbourhood, we drove by my old apartment, which has since been torn down and replaced with two three storey townhouses. For all the great memories I had there, it was actually a huge eyesore before, so I’m sure the neighbours were happy to see it go.

Then it was off to The Princess of Wales Theatre to see The Book of Mormon! We really enjoyed the show, especially all the big song and dance numbers. The endurance and stamina of stage performers never ceases to amaze me.

We had a good laugh because the seats were so cramped. The lady beside me was practically sitting on me the whole time, so it just meant we got squished together real close.

On Wednesday night,  Garrett’s Aunt and Uncle from South Carolina came up with their family to celebrate the American Thanksgiving with everyone. We hadn’t seen them since we stopped in for a visit on the Honeymoon Road Trip in May.

I was given the task of bringing homemade cranberry sauce and the dessert. I went with one pumpkin pie and then I thought I’d try this Dutch Apple Pie recipe for the other one, with a nice cream cheese layer on the bottom.

I was sure I had the amounts wrong when I loaded everything into the pie plate and it looked like this. I was frantically packing it all into place, in opens that we wouldn’t have an avalanche in the oven.

 Thankfully it cooked down to a reasonable height for cutting. Phew!

We were absolutely stuffed when we left from all the turkey, beef, potatoes, veggies, rolls, stuffing…and yummy desserts. The next day I felt so sluggish when I woke up and it was a real struggle to go to work…and now I know why we always take the day off after a big feast…you need it to recover!

While we were at Garrett’s parents’, he came across a box of old photos (including one of my father-in-law as a little guy, seeing Santa I shared on Instagram). I’ve only seen a few photos of Garrett when he was little and I couldn’t get over how cute he was. Look at all that white hair!

I started scanning my own family’s photos a few years ago and I still have some more boxes to get through, but I’d like to help Garrett do his too. I loved looking at old pictures of my parents, grandparents and great grandparents when I was little, and I want future generations to be able to see them too.

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I hope you have a lovely weekend, friends!